The present invention relates to an image processing method and an image processing apparatus.
With the popularization of digital printers producing prints on the basis of image information, opportunities of handling images incoming from various types of image inputting media and/or devices have proliferated. As an example, when the prints are produced by image information originating from various types of digital camera, a signal conversion technique in the predetermined color domain, which is standardized on the basis of subject intensity at the camera, is typically applied to the image information originating from the digital camera, in order to homogenize the image quality.
In reality, however, the accuracy of conversion into the predetermined color domain and an optical systems for capturing images have varied with various sorts of digital cameras. Owing to this fact, it has not been a simple task to homogenize the image quality, even if the predetermined color domain is standardized at the camera side.
In addition, with the increase of memory capacity for storing image information in digital cameras, the number of images, taken by the digital camera, have also increased. Therefore, in order to produce prints with the image information incoming from various types of digital cameras, it is required to rapidly determine the conditions necessary for image processings, corresponding to many image information. Development of such a method and an appropriate apparatus has been an urgent task in this field.
In addition to digital cameras, digital images incoming from various types of image inputting media have different image sizes (defined as vertical and lateral pixel number of image information). For example, in the case of print production based on an image information, an exclusive image processing system, which corresponds to the type of the image information, is required for adjusting the color/density. This fact has resulted in complexity of the processing system.
In a system called "Digital Mini-Lab.", specifically comprising a film scanner, a print production process, wherein various kinds of image processings such as a color compensation, etc. are performed on the basis of the image information obtained from the film scanner, has been established. It has been an urgent goal for such a "Digital Mini-Lab." to have a function of corresponding to various types of digital images without adding to the operator's work load.
In a printing system for producing prints from various kinds of photo documents, a system for automatically adjusting the print quality has been adopted to reduce the operator's work load for the additional quality manipulations. There have been drawbacks, however, such that finished print quality is not neccessary sufficiently good, e.g., a print of rear-lighting image being finished with too much dense tone, etc. Although it has been expected to introduce a system for automatically adjusting the print quality in the field of digital media such as digital cameras, etc. to reduce the operator's work load, such a system has not been realized so far. Further, in the system of "Digital Mini-Lab." wherein simultaneous print processing of plural prints gathered from the media mentioned above is possible, it is desirable that the automatic adjusting system should have the capability of always finishing prints with constant image quality irrespectve of media type, as well as stable print quality of each medium. So far, however, such a system does not yet exist.